A team that most predicted would be a bubble team fighting for the #8 seed finished the season as exactly that where a regulation win vs Dallas could have potentially put the Preds in the post season. Far from how any fan wanted the season to go ... not the abomination that some try to portray.

Yes, and as I have been posting about elsewhere, we did so in a year in which almost nothing went right:

- We lost Rinne for most of the season, and for at least 2/3 of the year may have had the worst goaltending in the entire league

- Almost none of our forwards could score, and the offense was dreadful until the final month. The free agent pickups were AWFUL.

- Hand in hand with the goaltending, we were in the bottom 10 of the league in goals against......

Despite all of that, we still were 1 game away from making playoffs and finished exactly where we were supposed to WITH A HEALTHY RINNE and average production from the new forwards...........

Its disappointing to be out of the playoffs but it could almost be argued that given the circumstances we finished better than we should have.

And I remain optimistic for next year- what are the odds that all the bad things that happened this year happen again next year?